Khalid admits that PAS still has professionals

'It is presumptuous to say that the Islamist party cannot give sound economic advice.'

PETALING JAYA: Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad disagrees with political analyst Shahbudin Husin’s statement that all professionals and progressives from PAS have moved to Amanah, making the Islamic party incapable of providing sound advice on economics and business.

Speaking to FMT, Khalid said there were still professionals in PAS who had chosen to stay in the party instead of joining Parti Amanah Negara.

Khalid, a member of Amanah’s central committee, said, “I don’t pretend to assume that we in Amanah are the only ones with the expertise to give advice on these topics. Although it is yet to be proven, I feel it’s presumptuous to think PAS is incapable of giving good advice.”

However, he said it was clear that PAS was no longer interested in changing the government.

“They are positioning themselves in a way that is more BN-friendly and are becoming increasingly irrelevant as an opposition entity,” he added.

Khalid did, however, agree with Shahbudin’s comment that Umno “just wants to make use of PAS for its politics and not hear any advice.”

“They just want to break up Pakatan Rakyat and they saw that PAS was the weakest link,” Khalid said.

“They managed to achieve this by using Islam as a bait when the truth is that they aren’t really interested in what PAS has to say.”